[2] These plans did not come to fruition: under the Brezhnev Constitution of 1977, the collegial Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was retained as the highest body of power in the country, rather than being replaced by a Council of State.

With the central government's authority greatly weakened by the failed coup, Gorbachev[3] established a four-man committee, led by Russian SFSR Premier Ivan Silayev, that included Grigory Yavlinsky, Arkadi Volsky, and Yuri Luzhkov, to elect a new Cabinet of Ministers.

[6] Yet, COMSE was quickly surpassed in authority by the Inter-republican Economic Committee of the Soviet Union (IEC), also led by Silayev.

This view changed;[8] he demanded that Yeltsin give back much of the authority of the central government which he had usurped following the August Coup.

[6] Оn 25 December Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President of the USSR in connection with the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.